Brownfield Restoration
As the authors state within their comparative analysis of the EPA Region 2 brownfields assessment, a key to successful redevelopment efforts is political support from mayors and city planners who make brownfield redevelopment a priority (Baker, Bono, Chase, Domick, Donovan, Freudenberg, Renfro, Stubbs, Thomas, Vecchio, Yeh, & Cohen, 2004, p. 2).
With an unrelenting focus, from Mayor Dan Pope since he took office, the City of Lubbock has been working to address remediation of the wreckage left behind when the City’s recycling center burned down; twice (Wilbanks, 2019.a). The Mayor held a press conference on the site of the abandoned recycling center, drawing the attention of the state to fund the initiative, a priority that Mayor Pope describes as the city’s largest legislative priority in their past three sessions (Dotray, 2019.a).
To show how the community came together to solve this problem, city local Casey Johnson mentions he purchased the abandoned recycling center to redevelop it as an economically viable piece of land (Wilbanks, 2019.b). There are existing plans for local business to take over the site and add value to the location, mentioned as a gateway to the city and opportunity to develop a multi-use business plan including a boutique hotel, coworking space, and cafe bakery (Blackwell, 2019.a) which subsequently generated media attention, shocking in part due to the immediacy of this information’s release (Blackwell, 2019.b).
With more than 400,000 brownfield sites in existence in the United States (Carr, 2019.15, p. 2), Dr. Deborah Carr begins a step by step plan to approach this business prospect with community support. Following this Brownfield Restoration outline, the opportunity to collaborate with the new owner and his company, C&D Waste, speaks directly to the community focus Johnson is willing to risk. With local entrepreneurs willing to provide the multi-tiered business that will meet the needs the owners seek, it’s possible that this privately managed brownfield restoration will end with significant community benefit (Nashwell, 2018).
To begin the process of seeking government assistance with the privately funded remediation, the business owners will need to pursue information for the EPA Brownfield site for Region 6 covering Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana (EPA Region 6 Brownfields, 2019). What they will find is a labyrinthine series of pages that take the user to the Brownfields Assessment page and back again (EPA Region 6 Assessment, 2019) before finally arriving at a simple PDF overview (EPA Region 6 PDF, 2019) showing the user how to visit the faulty website addresses already described. Needless to say, there is a reason why the private funding at great personal risk to the owners is still the fastest, and perhaps less risky, method of accomplishing anything, given the uncertainty and ambiguity of government services.
The option for excavation and disposal has been employed frequently for brownfields redevelopment and constitutes the preferred method for remediation (Schrenk, Hiester, Kirchholtes, & Barlin, 2007, p. 6), and C&D Waste is a stated expert in remediation, however with the $11.5 million estimated price tag it is unlikely to make a profit on the land after its restoration, even though C&D Waste can perform the job at cost and save a considerable amount below the estimate (Dotray, 2019.b). By following the guidelines for innovative remediation technology (IRT) (Schrenk, Hiester, Kirchholtes, & Barlin, 2007, p. 3), it would be possible for the new owners and their business partners to pull off a retail establishment with the recycling and reduction techniques that will make federal funding more likely.
Bibliography
Appendix
With an unrelenting focus, from Mayor Dan Pope since he took office, the City of Lubbock has been working to address remediation of the wreckage left behind when the City’s recycling center burned down; twice (Wilbanks, 2019.a). The Mayor held a press conference on the site of the abandoned recycling center, drawing the attention of the state to fund the initiative, a priority that Mayor Pope describes as the city’s largest legislative priority in their past three sessions (Dotray, 2019.a).
To show how the community came together to solve this problem, city local Casey Johnson mentions he purchased the abandoned recycling center to redevelop it as an economically viable piece of land (Wilbanks, 2019.b). There are existing plans for local business to take over the site and add value to the location, mentioned as a gateway to the city and opportunity to develop a multi-use business plan including a boutique hotel, coworking space, and cafe bakery (Blackwell, 2019.a) which subsequently generated media attention, shocking in part due to the immediacy of this information’s release (Blackwell, 2019.b).
With more than 400,000 brownfield sites in existence in the United States (Carr, 2019.15, p. 2), Dr. Deborah Carr begins a step by step plan to approach this business prospect with community support. Following this Brownfield Restoration outline, the opportunity to collaborate with the new owner and his company, C&D Waste, speaks directly to the community focus Johnson is willing to risk. With local entrepreneurs willing to provide the multi-tiered business that will meet the needs the owners seek, it’s possible that this privately managed brownfield restoration will end with significant community benefit (Nashwell, 2018).
To begin the process of seeking government assistance with the privately funded remediation, the business owners will need to pursue information for the EPA Brownfield site for Region 6 covering Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana (EPA Region 6 Brownfields, 2019). What they will find is a labyrinthine series of pages that take the user to the Brownfields Assessment page and back again (EPA Region 6 Assessment, 2019) before finally arriving at a simple PDF overview (EPA Region 6 PDF, 2019) showing the user how to visit the faulty website addresses already described. Needless to say, there is a reason why the private funding at great personal risk to the owners is still the fastest, and perhaps less risky, method of accomplishing anything, given the uncertainty and ambiguity of government services.
The option for excavation and disposal has been employed frequently for brownfields redevelopment and constitutes the preferred method for remediation (Schrenk, Hiester, Kirchholtes, & Barlin, 2007, p. 6), and C&D Waste is a stated expert in remediation, however with the $11.5 million estimated price tag it is unlikely to make a profit on the land after its restoration, even though C&D Waste can perform the job at cost and save a considerable amount below the estimate (Dotray, 2019.b). By following the guidelines for innovative remediation technology (IRT) (Schrenk, Hiester, Kirchholtes, & Barlin, 2007, p. 3), it would be possible for the new owners and their business partners to pull off a retail establishment with the recycling and reduction techniques that will make federal funding more likely.
Bibliography
- Baker, Z., Bono, S., Chase, A., Domick, T., Donovan, K., Freudenberg, R., Renfro, A., Stubbs, Q., Thomas, N., Vecchio, A., Yeh, S., & Cohen, P. S. (2004). Brownfields assessment demonstration pilots/grants in EPA Region 2: A comparative Analysis (Environmental Science and Policy Workshop, pp. 1-126, Rep.). New York, NY: Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
- Blackwell. (2019.a, November 29). Brownfield restoration. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://blackwellmba.blogspot.com/2019/11/brownfield-restoration.html
- Blackwell. (2019.b, November 29). Brownfield restoration post. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.facebook.com/lineaist/posts/10157672003154030
- Carr, D. (2019.15). Module 15: Brownfield Restoration. Lecture presented at BIOL-6360 Environmental Sustainability in Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
- Dotray, M. (2019.a, April 18). City, county still pushing to get abandoned recycling center cleaned up. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20190418/city-county-still-pushing-to-get-abandoned-recycling-center-cleaned-up
- Dotray. (2019.b, October 20). Lubbock's most visible dump is finally getting cleaned up. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20191020/lubbocks-most-visible-dump-is-finally-getting-cleaned-up
- EPA Region 6 Assessment. (2019, May 31). Region 6 targeted brownfields assessment. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/region-6-targeted-brownfields-assessment
- EPA Region 6 Brownfields. (2019, May 31). Brownfields and land revitalization in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-and-land-revitalization-texas-new-mexico-oklahoma-arkansas-and-louisiana
- EPA Region 6 PDF. (2019, May 31). Region 6 targeted brownfields assessment PDF. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-12/documents/2017_r6_tba_brochure.pdf
- Nashwell. (2018). Nashwell LLC dba Linebrand. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://nashwell.us/
- Schrenk, V., Hiester, U., Kirchholtes, H. J., & Barlin, M. (2007). The Use of Innovative Remediation Technologies in Brownfield Redevelopment Projects. In Proceedings 2nd international conference on managing urban land (pp. 1-10). Stuttgart, Germany: Revitalising Industrial Sites.
- Wilbanks, K. (2019.a, April 18). Lubbock appeals to state to fund cleanup of abandoned recycling facility. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.kcbd.com/2019/04/18/lubbock-appeals-state-fund-cleanup-abandoned-recycling-facility/
- Wilbanks, K. (2019.b, August 30). Cleanup begins on abandoned I-27 junkyard purchased by Environmental Recovery LLC. Retrieved November 29, 2019, from https://www.kcbd.com/2019/08/30/cleanup-begins-abandoned-i-junk-yard-purchased-by-environmental-recovery-llc/
Appendix
- Entrepreneurial note indicating multi-use business development at former Lubbock recycling center.
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